What are the best services and tools to monitor my kids screen time? 5 top picks | Guide to Digital Parenting

As part of our Ultimate Guide to Digital Parenting, answering parents’ top questions about family technology, we’re sharing the best services and tools to help you monitor your kids on their gadgets.

While most routers, phones, tablets and computers have basic built-in parental controls, we know that parents often want more insight into how our kids are using their gadgets, so we can help keep them safer. Plus, we want better control over how much kids are on their screens, and what kind of content they’re using when they are online.

So we’ve gathered up the 5 of the best services and tools to help you monitor your kids on their gadgets, all of which do more than simply help you manage screen time. We get it, sometimes parents need a little help, and while none of these gadgets are a substitute for you, they will help you better filter and monitor texts, apps, and overall online usage to help you get a better handle on what’s going on in your child’s digital life.

We’re thrilled to bring you the Cool Mom Tech Guide to Digital Parenting on behalf of our sponsor Relay, a brilliant, screen-free smartphone alternative for kids 6 and up. Because one day your kids will be ready for a smartphone. But until then, it’s fantastic to have a smarter phone to keep your family connected, only without the apps, the the texts, and the other distractions parents want to avoid.

Circle with Disney is a parent favorite gadget since it offers easy screen time limiting, as well as age-appropriate content filtering, and it allows you to see exactly where your kids are spending their time when they’re plugged in. You can even use it to offer rewards.

Since we first featured Circle with Disney when it launched in 2015, they’ve added Circle Go, a paid subscription service that gives you the same features, only accessible when you’re…on the go. (Hence, the name.) This provides 4G LTE coverage, which fills a gap that they had at launch — now it continues to monitor kids who could previously hop off their WiFi at home and switch to cellular data, then visit places on the web you’d rather them not. Smart, Circle. Smart.

If you’re looking for more robust text and social media monitoring, you’ll want to beef up your arsenal beyond Circle. But for basic parental controls and filters for all the devices in your home (yes, all of them), this is a fantastic, and fairly affordable place to start. ($54.99)

One of the highest ranked services we’ve found, Qustodio offers comprehensive coverage for families looking to do some heavy monitoring of their kids’ online activities. Whether you’re an Android or iOS family, PC or Mac household, even Kindle, Qustodio has you covered with services including SMS monitoring, content blocking, and myriad screen time management features.

You’ll even have access to location tracking on every single device where it’s installed.

It’s also a good choice if you want to cut back on social media time for your kids, because it will monitor time spent down to the minute on networks including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp and more. That said, it only alerts you to specific behavior on Facebook like posting a comment or sharing a photo (and we know that most kids are more likely to use other networks these days) so if you want more comprehensive behavior tracking on say, WhatsApp, you’ll need another service for that. (Plans start at $39.99/year)

If you’re looking for a screen time monitoring and management service that allows you to do a whole lot of blocking, you’ll want to explore everything Netsanity has to offer.

Their service includes appblocker, timeblocker, catblocker, siteblocker, and gameblocker, so you can very easily block (as you might have guessed) apps, websites, games, and specific content categories as a whole with just a click.

They’ve also got a handy safesearch feature, so kids can still use their web browsers, but with fewer worries of encountering questionable content that might slip through other parental controls.

And with YouTube and YouTube Kids in the news recently for some massive problems with child safety, parents will appreciate the dedicated YouTube filtering feature on Netsanity. It allows your kids to continue to watch their favorite YouTubers, while still protecting little eyes from inappropriate content. (14-day free trial, then $6.95/month)

When it comes to Relay, you don’t have to worry about services or tools to monitor your kid’s mobile usage. That’s because this brilliant, screen-free smartphone alternative last year keeps your kids connected to you without all the apps, texts, or social media for you to worry about.

Think of Relay like a walkie-talkie 2.0 that offers everything parents want for kids 6 and up, without you having to keep track of who they’re texting, what they’re watching, and what information they might be sharing.

Parents don’t even need their own Relay to communicate with their kids; just download the free Relay app to your own smartphone and with the push of a button, you and your child can connect anytime, from anywhere in the world via 4G LTE or WiFi

With Relay, you’ll get the instant communication and peace of mind we’re all looking for, to help teach our kids responsibility and independence, one step at a time.

Available across all platforms, including the Chromebooks that so many students are using these days, parents will get help managing screen time, blocking risky sites and popular apps, as well as an advanced filter that’s highly regarded for its ability block inappropriate content where some built-in parental controls fail.

You can also use their location tracker to keep up with their kids, and their devices.

If you’re looking to keep a more watchful eye on your child’s messaging and social media behavior, you’ll need an additional service to handle those issues. But for some of the best browser history reports and Internet filtering, Mobicip is an excellent choice. ($39.99/year)

For families who are very concerned about their children’s interactions on text and social media, Bark is what you’re looking for. It’s the only service we found that tracks conversations and content across most of the major social networks, as well as both iOS and Android text apps. Barak even offers the ability to monitor email.

Parents receive instant alerts when Bark discovers a potential issue, plus you’ll have access to expert information on how to handle problems you may be having with your kids’ digital life. While you won’t get screen time management support with Bark, if your child has given you reason to worry about risky online behavior, inappropriate sharing, or an inability to follow the rules you’ve set, Bark definitely has you covered. (7-day free trial, then $9/month)

Thanks to our sponsor Relay. They’re making digital parenting a whole lot easier and safer for kids and their families, thanks to a gadget that doesn’t require any screen time at all. It’s a terrific smartphone alternative for kids to help us raise responsible digital citizens, and give us a little peace of mind while we do it.

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Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz

We started Cool Mom Tech in 2010 to help make our increasingly digital lives easier, more organized, more meaningful, and more fun, however old your kids may be.

We love that it's grown to become the go-to source for millions of parents who want commonsense info about tech delivered with a smile.

We even have the privilege of sharing our tips + tricks with The TODAY Show, CNN, HLN, GMA, Nightline, newspapers and magazines around the country, and our favorite -- regular parents who stop us at PTA meetings and ask us how old kids need to be to get a smartphone, and whether they really need to panic about Snapchat.

(Answer: It's complicated.)

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